Burst
by ghostninja85
Summary: Set right after Naruto and Sasuke's fight at the Valley of the End. Vague SasuNaruSasu and a prequel of sorts to Our Progeny but can definately stand alone.


I originally wrote this for the challenge on Banana Bread, but it didn't work that well, so I'll just post it here. This is set right after the end of Sasuke and Naruto's fight in the Valley of the End.

This is also a part 2 of sorts to a lemon I wrote called "Repercussions" The link is in my profile.

Warnings: spoilers up to the current manga and vague SasuNaruSasu themes.

………………………….. : POV change

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………………………….. : Concurrent thoughts

He had always thought of dreams as bubbles. So beautiful and so tragically fragile… He would watch them go so far, and get so close to where they had escaped from your sight, only for them to pop at the last moment. Enough escaped to give you hope, but _your_ bubbles never seemed to make it. All of his bubbles burst eventually.

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He had always thought of dreams as bubbles. So beautiful and surprisingly resilient. He remembered a game that he had played as a boy: he would blow bubbles and then try to pop them with a water gun. He could play it alone, and it wasn't as easy as you'd think. Some bubbles just refused to pop. If it was big enough or really soapy then it would take lots of shots to shoot a bubble down. Sometimes, a bubble would burst, but then recover and reform into a smaller bubble. These were always his favorite. Bubbles and dreams can be recovered once they've been broken.

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Bubbles and dreams could be linked together as well. They would build on each other and become amazing structures. Support structures would form, and they would hold together longer than they would have without each other. Occasionally, an important bubble would pop, and the entire structure, the entire house- would break apart.

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He'd always dreamt about fulfilling his goal. Every one of his dreams, every one of his goals was built on the need to avenge his clan. _His_ needs were secondary. It was why he spent hours training and studying instead of socializing. It was why he wasn't able to have friends or comrades. All of his choices had to eliminate weaknesses and make him stronger.

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As far as he could remember, he'd always wanted to become Hokage. Everything he did was to help him achieve the most respected position in Konoha and every hardship he'd endured would be worth it once he made his goal. Achieving the title would mean that he had finally earned the villagers respect and admiration. He was already well on his way to gaining the ninja community's respect, but he couldn't get an acknowledgement from his best friend. When he thought about it, the goal of acknowledgement from those closest to him was just as important as becoming Hokage.

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The first dream to burst in his life had occurred when he'd lost his family. After that, a new dream had formed, and there was only room for dreams related to revenge. Now, it had burst again: even after all of his work, after all the training and growing he had done, Itachi was still out of his league. He was left with a choice. In order to become stronger, he would have to burst every one of his other dreams. He had already started the process, but although a cold and uncaring façade had acted as his shield for years, it was hard to hurt the people he cared for. It was hard to hurt his… counterpart. His personal needs would remain unfulfilled if he left. He would have to leave behind the one person who meant the most in his world.

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His dream had popped many times, but he had always been able to work the remaining bubble back towards his goal. Every time he'd failed the genin test, when he'd frozen in his first real battle, their failure at the chuunin exam… but he wasn't sure he'd be able to fix things this time. Betrayal was a wickedly efficient dream killer.

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His choices had finally led him to this point. Naruto was unconscious on the ground, barely alive after he had tried to kill him. He could finish the other boy now, but he couldn't bring himself to break this last dream. The blonde's words had resonated within his mind. They were almost like brothers. The way brothers should be; the way he'd always wanted his real brother to be. He had always felt a connection to the other boy, and over time, it had grown into something more. When he allowed himself the luxury of analyzing his feelings, he realized that he cared deeply for the blonde. He could never kill someone he… loved, no matter what his goals were.

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He was dreaming. It was the only possible explanation: it was never possible for him to see his dreams while he was conscious. Images and video were reflected off of the bubbles as they drifted by, each depicting a major event in Team 7's history. Afterwards, they shifted to images of just the two of them: training, sparring, working on missions, arguing, and for brief moments just enjoying each other's company. Sasuke's image brought the current series of events to the surface. The dream meant that he wasn't dead, but Naruto didn't care anymore. He'd failed. Sasuke would leave, and once again, his dreams would disintegrate. His goals were now built on his relationship with Sasuke. He couldn't imagine a world without his best friend.

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He had to go now, or he wouldn't ever be able to leave. It was ironic: he had always thought that dreams were easily broken, but as hard as he tried, he couldn't destroy this one. Not even his hatred for his brother or his betrayal of Konoha to Orochimaru could make him intentionally destroy this last hope. The whole world could shatter, but not this.

'Don't die Dobe. I have to go, but I'll be back.'

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He felt Sasuke's presence drift away, but there was nothing he could do. It was ironic: he had always thought that dreams were made of will, and his will was strong. But all of his will and effort were useless in his pursuit of this one goal. His best friend- one of the few truly precious people in his life was gone. Maybe forever.

'Leave, you bastard. Turn your back on everything, but if you do come back, I don't think I'd be able to hate you.'

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An image that was at one glance both ominous and amazing came to them during those last moments. It was a house. A house of dreams and bubbles. It was filled with every hope, wish and dream that they had ever had. When they understood what they were gazing upon, they were almost _forced_ to focus on two large bubbles in the foundation. One held Naruto's form lying unconscious on the ground with tears in his eyes. The other showed Sasuke slowly walking past Konoha's border.

The images blurred and the entire world collapsed inward and shattered in a silent roar. Finally, when they realized that the vision was near its completion, their sight cleared and they could observe what was left: one bubble remained.

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'I will return to Konoha, once all of this is over.'

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'I will bring him back, on the Fourth's soul; I vow that Sasuke will return to Konoha.'

End

Please review with constructive criticism. I really want to improve as a writer. One of my good friends said that my sentence structure was a bit too simple, but I can't seem to find any way to fix it in this story. Please offer suggestions and point out any errors you see.


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